Submerged
by limeorcoconut
Summary: The BAU is relieved when they catch their latest unsub, only to be given an ultimatum . Let the unsub free, or chance losing one of their own.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds**_

Chapter One

The fluorescent light that hung overhead caused a faint buzzing noise, interrupting the otherwise silent room. Three men stood around a small, rectangular table glaring at each other as if daring the other to speak. A chair was pulled back causing an irritating screeching as the metal legs made contact with the hard floor. The three men took their seats, two on one side of the table and the other sat across from them, staring smugly forward as his fingers drummed a steady beat on the wooden table. Marcus Woods was the team's latest unsub, an arrogant son of a bitch who had killed nine women in the last twelve days. Of course there were many more that the BAU were completely oblivious to, 28 other women to be precise, that would never be found. The fact that Marcus had successfully killed so many women and had only now been caught was why he could sit there, staring smugly at the two people across from him who he believed to be Agent Hotchner and Dr. Reid.

Hotch folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in the chair waiting for Marcus Woods to say something, but the only sound he made came from the irritating tapping of his fingers. Hotch raised an eyebrow urging him to say anything at all and yet Marcus remained silent.

Reid was fidgeting as he always did when he was nervous; the overwhelming silence in the room hung over him like a dark rain cloud doing nothing to calm his nerves. His right leg was bouncing uncontrollably despite the hand he had placed on his knee attempting to stop the repetitive motion. Finally, unable to stand another moment of Hotch and Marcus starring at one another he began to speak. "Marcus where are the other three bodies?"

Marcus smiled at that. Three, really? If only they knew the real damage he had caused, the amount of lives he had ruined, he was sure they wouldn't be sitting there so calmly. "You'll never find them," he replied smugly, the corners of his lips curving up into a creepy smile.

"If you tell us where they are Marcus we might be able to help you. We will be able to tell the DA that you helped us with the investigation, that you cooperated. In the long run you will only benefit by helping us now," Reid explained.

"I have no interest in helping you, nor in being helped. Besides it doesn't matter what you tell the DA because I know I am not going to jail."

This garnered Hotch's attention as he turned to Marcus and simply questioned, "How can you believe you aren't going to jail. We have proof that you have killed six women, and when we find the other three bodies we will be able to prove you killed nine. That's enough for a lifetime sentence, Marcus."

Marcus's smile only grew. It was unendingly humorous to him when he knew something that the others in the room didn't. He could taunt them all day with his acquired knowledge and never get bored but unfortunately he didn't have time for that today.

When Marcus's smile only grew Hotch became frustrated. "You will be sentenced; I have no doubt in my mind that you are indeed going to jail Marcus. I will make sure of it."

"Whatever you say Agent Hotchner."

"What makes you so sure you aren't going to jail?" Marcus just shrugged in reply. He couldn't tell them yet, he wanted to make them angry first, frustrate them, before he shared the information that he was sure would leave him free to go.

"Marcus, what do you know?" Reid asked much more calmly than Hotch. Marcus turned his gaze from the clearly frustrated Hotch to Reid's almost timid face, before turning back to Agent Hotchner.

"Say Agent Hotchner when is the last time you saw that lovely agent of yours? What's her name? Agent Prentiss?" Hotch's eyes grew wide as he tried to recall when he had seen her last, the day had been busy and he couldn't seem to put the day's events into any sort of particular order. He turned to Reid and his never faulty eidetic memory for help.

"You assigned her and Morgan to interview Frank Simmons and they departed from the station exactly three hours and seven minutes ago," Reid easily recalled.

"But you haven't heard from either of your agents since? Strange that they would be gone so long without a word, isn't it agents?" Marcus asked as he tilted his head to the side. Hotch drew his cell phone from his pocket and dialed both Morgan and Prentiss respectively. When he received no answer from either one he slammed his phone shut before crashing his hands down on the table with a frustrated bang causing Reid to jump slightly.

"What did you do with them Marcus?" Hotch asked in a low growl.

"Oh don't worry Agent Hotchner they are both alive and well. In fact agent Morgan is merely bound together with ropes in Frank's barn. Agent Prentiss on the other hand…" his sentence drifted off as he folded his hands together and placed them on the table in front of him.  
"Where is she?" Hotch questioned, his glare so fierce that Reid was sure Marcus was about to turn to stone. Marcus seemed unaffected however as he simply raised his eyebrows in amusement before shrugging his shoulders. Hotch stood quickly, knocking his chair to the ground, a loud bang resonating throughout the small room. "I said where is she?" Hotch was coming dangerously close to wrapping his hands around Marcus's neck and choking the answer out of him.

"Calm down and I will tell you," Marcus stated. Hotch drew back a little but remained standing his fists clenching at his sides. "Of course, I will only tell you if… you let me go." Hotch moved a hand to his chin acting as though he was actually considering it.

"Never," Hotch spit out his voice full of venom. "We will find her with or without your help." Marcus just shrugged as if he didn't care either way.

"Whatever suits you," Marcus replied. "Oh, but I forgot to mention..." He lifted his wrist to check his watch before continuing. "You only have three hours. You see your darling agent is in a tank that is slowly filling with water, and in three short hours she will be completely submerged. You will never find her, not in three hours anyway. So you can either lock me up or save your precious agent. It's your choice." Hotch kicked his fallen chair before turning and stomping out of the small interrogation room, slamming the door behind him, leaving the room once again in silence.

_**A/N: I shouldn't be starting a new story with school beginning again but I couldn't get this idea out of my head. Updates may be far between as I now have to add school work somewhere into the mix. I haven't written much of this story at all so ideas are always welcome. Of course updates will come faster if I am motivated by reviews. Please let me know what you think and whether or not I should continue :)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds**_

Chapter 2

_Flashback_

_Morgan turned into the driveway gravel crunching under the tires as he came to a stop in front of an old farmhouse. Both Emily and himself walked up the front steps onto a porch that wrapped around the entire front of the brick house. He reached his hand out and knocked on the door three times before crossing him arms and leaning against the wooden porch in wait. He could hear a door flapping in the wind and the odd cow mooing in the distance. When no one answered the door he reached out his hand and knocked again. He glanced to Prentiss who just shrugged her shoulders in response. _

"_Should we go in?" Morgan asked._

"_I don't know. Frank isn't exactly a major suspect; we just had a few questions. Maybe it would be better to come back in a few hours." Morgan thought this over before nodding in agreement, he could use a coffee anyway. Together he and Prentiss made their way back towards their SUV. About to open the driver's door Morgan felt a large object come into contact with the back of his head. At first pain radiated through him and then nothing as he sank into the world of unconsciousness. _

_Emily automatically reached for her gun when she heard Morgan yell in pain. She moved to open the passenger door, gun raised, only to be greeted with a two by four to the skull. _

Three pairs of eyes followed Hotch's retreating form as he stormed past them. JJ and Garcia looked at each other before turning and following Hotch towards the conference room leaving Detective Lemon by himself standing in front of the reflective glass. They found Hotch sitting with his head in his hands obviously weighing his options. They sat on either side of him patiently awaiting his orders. After what felt like an eternity of silence JJ reached out her hand attentively placing it on Hotch's arm hoping to get his attention. She received the desired effect when he lifted his head from his hands and looked at her sadly. "Hotch this is your decision but you need to make it quickly. The longer we sit here the less time we have," she offered. He nodded in agreement still unsure of what he should do. He stared at her for another moment before speaking,

"We can't let him go. We can find her, we still have time." His voice was faltering like he didn't quite believe what he was saying himself.

"Of course we can boss man. If we put those five intelligent minds of yours together and my ingenious computer skills we will find her in no time," Garcia stated hopefully. Hotch turned to look at her, determination radiating from every pore in her body.

"Okay let's do this," Hotch said as he prepared himself for what may lay ahead.

Reid hadn't moved from his seat as he stared coolly at the face of Marcus Woods looking for any sort of sign that he was lying. Of course Marcus just sat there, arms crossed, that smug look never leaving his face. Reid wondered if Hotch had made any sort of decision as to whether or not Marcus would go free. Reid had been weighing the options in his own mind, not quite reaching any sort of decision. Of course there was obviously the benefit of getting Prentiss back alive and well if they let him go, but what if they never found him again. Marcus was very clever, if he had been able to pull this off, there was no doubt in Reid's mind that if they let this son of a bitch go it could be possibly years before they ever found him, if they ever even did.

"We will find her you know," Reid stated his voice laced with determination. Marcus let out a sigh.

"If only everyone was a naïve as you kid," Marcus replied before letting out a small chuckle.

Rossi was never one to lose control. His mind was always focused and clear even when all of his other team members were falling apart. And while he was incredibly focused right now he could not say that his driving skills showed any form of control. The SUV was barreling along the highway at a speed far above the legal limit causing Officer Jefferson to grasp onto the side handle with all his might. Any other time Rossi might have laughed at the fearful face in which Jefferson was wearing, the beads of sweat that were visible above his brow line and the way his eyes would clench shut at every turn, but right now Rossi simply didn't care.

Finally after twelve long minutes of what Officer Jefferson considered to be twelve of the scariest minutes of his life, the SUV came to a screeching halt. He flung the door open and jumped out onto the sturdy ground. God he had never been so glad in his life to exit a moving vehicle. If not for the odd glances he would surely receive, he would have knelt on the ground and kissed it right then. He followed Rossi in the direction of the barn, its open door swaying in the wind. He covered Rossi as he cleared the stalls one by one before climbing up the shaky, wooden ladder into the hay loft. Hanging from the ceiling, his arms stretched high above his head, wrists and ankles bound was none other than Derek Morgan.

Prentiss sat with her shoulders slumped against the wall, her knees brought up to her chest where her chin was resting contently. She found this was really the only comfortable position as it was extremely cramped in the small, glass box she currently inhabited. She had already attempted to break the glass, pounding as hard as she could on its walls leaving her with nothing but a sore hand. Through the glass wall she could see large, red numbers which appeared to be some sort of timer. It had started at '3.00.00' and was now sitting at '2.52.38' as it counted down by the seconds. She moved her hand into her lap when she felt a cool, wet substance come into contact with her skin. At first she ignored it until it began to soak through her pants. She stood up quickly, alerted by the intrusive substance, wiping her wet hand on her shirt. Her confused look was replaced with one of horror when she realized that the small, glass box in which she was contained was slowly filling with water.

**A/N: This chapter is a little shorter; hopefully the next one will be longer. Thanks for reading and please leave a review, they are always much appreciated :)**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds**_

Chapter 3

Dull aching was the feeling in which Derek Morgan awoke to. He opened his eyes only to shut them quickly as the bright light stung uncomfortably. After a few moments he again attempted to open his eyes slowly, allowing them to adjust to the light. It was then he noticed his arms strung high above his head, obviously the cause of the dull aching he had awoken to. A tingling sensation ran through his arms as they began to fall asleep, irritating him further. He looked to the floor noticing his feet were only mere centimeters from the ground. He wished he could reach the floor, if only to relieve some of the pressure on his arms. He struggled slightly, fighting against the ropes that held his arms, but to no avail. Instead of loosening the ropes like he had hoped, it had the opposite effect, digging deeper into his already bleeding wrists. He remained suspended above the wooden floorboards and scattered pieces of straw. Morgan closed his eyes in defeat only to gain a little hope when he heard someone clear their throat from somewhere in front of him.

Rossi climbed the ladder to see Morgan suspended from the ceiling. His eyes were closed but Rossi was almost positive he was awake as his breathing was uneven and his feet were kicking slightly at the air in front of him. Clearing his throat garnered Morgan's attention rather quickly as Morgan opened his eyes excitedly. Rossi moved towards him, the smell of fresh straw filling his nostrils. Rossi inspected the rope used to bind Morgan's wrists before pulling on it slightly causing Morgan to come crashing down to the ground with a loud thud. Rossi sucked in a breath waiting for Morgan to berate his carelessness but to Rossi's surprise Morgan's only response was a loud groan.

Reid turned towards the door when he heard it shoved open behind him. Instead of taking a seat, Hotch leaned over the table, fists clenched and resting on the table top, his knuckles turning white from the pressure. "This is your last chance Marcus. Either tell me where she is or you will go to jail for a very long time."

Marcus feigned fear as he listened to Hotch deliver his short speech. When Hotch finished speaking Marcus answered, "Never!" Hotch narrowed his eyes at Marcus before turning and leaving the room waving his hand in a gesture that signaled for Reid to follow. Reid stood quickly, happy to leave the eerie sensation that filled the interrogation room.

JJ, Garcia and Reid sat around a small table, their eyes darting back and forth simultaneously as they watched Hotch pacing across the front of the room. It was like watching an intense tennis match, silence falling as eyes followed the ball waiting for it to be knocked out of play.

"You're going to wear a hole in the floor sir," Garcia finally said. Instead of stopping like she had hoped he continued to move back and forth across the worn carpet.

"Umm Hotch," Reid piped up nervously. "We should probably get to work on the geographical profile in order to narrow down the most likely place Emily is being held. We only have two and a half hours left to find her, which statistically is…"  
"Reid," JJ said cutting him off as she shook her head lightly.

"What?" Reid asked confused as to why he had been cut off.

"I don't really think Hotch wants to hear any statistics right now." Reid turned his gaze to Hotch who had finally stopped pacing and now stood with a hand to his forehead, obviously in thinking mode.

"Garcia, I need you to look up all properties either owned by Marcus, or properties that have been abandoned in the area, most likely secluded. Check abandoned warehouses, houses with basements, that sort of thing. Reid you start on the geographical profile, narrow down the areas in which she could be held. JJ start a press conference and alert everyone to her disappearance. Ask them to please call if they have seen anything suspicious." All three agents nodded in agreement before standing and heading their separate ways.

Prentiss was standing with her body splayed against the back wall of the tiny, glass box. The water was now just above her knees, the warm water mixing with the cool air causing her to shiver slightly. She was breathing slowly in and out attempting to keep calm as the water continued to rise farther and farther up her legs. She hated this situation entirely. The deepening water kept her from pacing back and forth in thought or worry. Preferring dry pants to the uncomfortable feeling of wet pants clinging to her skin, she was left with no option but to stand, her feet planted to the ground as mobility options decreased. The bright red numbers continued to count down the seconds, getting closer and closer to sealing her fate. As the time reached 2:24:16, she decided that some sort of action needed to be taken. She turned her fists to the glass and began pounding and screaming as loudly as she could, hoping that someone, anyone, would hear her plea for help.

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, it is really appreciated. I know this chapter is short again but I really wanted to update this story. It has been a few weeks due to homework pile up but I will try to update as soon as I can. Thanks for reading and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds**_

Chapter 4

The clock on the wall seemed to be counting the seconds louder than usual. The constant ticking echoed in his ears causing him to lose concentration yet again. He needed to focus, needed to figure this out. After five minutes of ticking he couldn't stand it any longer. He reached forward grabbing the first thing his hand came into contact with and whirled it towards the offending object. The ticking was replaced with a loud smash as the stapler came into contact with the clock knocking it from the wall. First the inevitable crash of the clock hitting the ground and then glass shattering, sounding like a million little crystals as they scattered across the cement floor. He listened. The room was silent. For the first time in hours, Derek Morgan actually smiled.

Hotch looked up when he heard the clock come crashing down to the ground. He eyed Morgan suspiciously for a moment before turning back to the file in front of him. If he was completely honest with himself he would have admitted that he had wanted to smash that clock hours ago. He had been staring at the folder in front of him forever without actually reading it. His mind was occupied by other things, namely Emily Prentiss. He was worried about her. He could say it was because he wasn't sure how the team would handle things without her. He could say it was because he would have to go to the trouble of finding a new agent should something happen to her. But if he was at all truthful with himself, it was because he personally wasn't sure what he would do without her. Since New York they had become closer, and in the few hours she had been gone, he missed her. Hotch shook his head as he let out a sigh. He needed to concentrate if he was ever going to see Emily Prentiss again.

Reid had been staring at the white board in front of him for what had felt like days. The words were starting to jumble together as he blinked his eyes rapidly trying to stay awake. It had been an hour and a half and they had come up with absolutely nothing. He had drawn up a geographical profile, narrowing down a twelve mile radius which was completely useless to them in such a short time span. Rossi had been sent to find Frank Simmons and bring him back to the station. Garcia was looking through the histories of both Frank and Marcus trying to isolate locations that may hold some meaning for them. Hotch and Morgan had been left to go through the files of Marcus's previous victims and try to pick out any clues that may lead them to Prentiss's whereabouts. So far none of them had come up with anything. Reid stood from his chair and began to pace back and forth in front of the board in order to clear his head before wandering over to the coffee pot. Just as he was about to pour himself a cup of coffee a loud crash sounded from behind him. He jumped nearly three feet in the air before grasping his chest with his hand and turning towards the cause of the sound. Hotch and Morgan sat bent over their folders seemingly unaffected by the obtrusive noise. His eyes moved to the floor where he saw a smashed clock and a stapler laying nearby. He narrowed his gaze as he looked towards Derek Morgan, who just sat there with a grin plastered on his face. _Ya laugh all you want Derek Morgan you nearly caused me a heart attack_, Reid thought angrily before turning back to his cup of coffee.

Rossi was beyond frustrated. He and Officer Jefferson had been searching the farm for nearly an hour with absolutely no sign of Frank Simmons. They didn't think he had gone too far because the only vehicle registered to Frank Simmons was the beat up truck that was sitting in front of the house. While it was somewhat of an assumption that he was still on the farm they didn't have much else to go on. They continued trekking through the line of trees that surrounded the property only stopping every once and awhile to glance around. About ready to say the hell with it and leave, Rossi was interrupted by a yell from Officer Jefferson. He turned in that direction to see a man fleeing across the yard. Both he and Officer Jefferson took off at full speed before leaping forward and tackling him to the ground.

Garcia's fingers were flying across the keyboard faster than they ever had before. She was searching through everything she could find on Frank Simmons and Marcus Woods but so far had come up empty handed. Sure she had found out that Frank's mom had died when he was twelve and that Marcus's first criminal act was killing the neighbor's dog with a weed whacker, but nothing that gave any clue as to where Prentiss might be. Finally after what felt like hours of strenuous typing she came across a set of abandoned factories that Marcus's step father had sold three years ago. _I might be on to something_ Garcia thought as she began to search for their location.

Slowly the water crawled up past her belly button soaking her shirt even further. Prentiss was becoming slightly panicked now. No one had answered her call for help and she had discovered that the glass was clearly unbreakable. She was trapped and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. The water would continue to rise until she was completely submerged. How long she could last without air she wasn't sure, she almost wished Reid was there to fill her in on the basic facts of drowning. But without such knowledge, nor any possible way to escape all she could do was stand there as the water slowly climbed the walls, waiting for her team. She glanced towards the time again, large red numbers reading 1:27:42. She sucked in a deep breath and began to hope that her team would be here long before then.

He sat completely still minus one foot tapping to the steady beat of the ticking clock. They were never going to find her in the allotted time, he was just too clever. They would run his name through databases, narrow down all the possible locations and then search them high and low, but they would never find her. He had started planning this out months earlier, knew exactly how the events would unfold and so far they were going according to plan. Soon the time would be nearly out and they would come begging for his help. He grinned as the seconds continued to tick away, he never lost.

**A/N: So I should defiantly be writing a paper but I noticed that this story hadn't been updated in awhile so I thought I better get on it. Also the preview for this week's episode motivated me to write because it looks super intense! Sort of a filler chapter before the team starts to put things together. Hope everyone enjoyed and please review! They really help with faster updates, so thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds**_

Chapter 5

JJ had been loitering outside Garcia's office for nearly twenty minutes. She really wanted to go in and see if Garcia had made any progress but she didn't want to interrupt her train of thought either. Both Garcia and herself seemed to be the most fragile in these situations and the two of them together might not end with anything but tears. They were agents; they should be able to handle these types of situations as they dealt with them every day. But when the victim was someone as important to them as Emily it was hard to keep feelings at bay. With a final sigh JJ pushed open the door and entered Garcia's den.

Garcia sat humming the Star Trek theme to herself as her fingers moved across the keyboard compiling the many databases that could be used to narrow down Emily's current location. She had the address of two warehouses and was currently loading the floor plans so that her team of super agents would be able to clear them as quickly as possible. She jumped, slightly startled when she heard the door to her den swing open, slightly irritated with whoever had decided to disrupt her train of thought. She spun around in her chair to face the door prepared to yell at whoever had dared enter her cave but could only smile when she saw JJ standing there looking quite unsure of herself. "What's up Jayje?" Garcia asked. JJ just shrugged she really didn't have much to say she was just sick of sitting cooped up in a small room feeling completely useless.

"I don't know," she sighed. "I just feel like we aren't getting anywhere and we have less than an hour left and…".

"And you think we should consider releasing Marcus," Garcia finished for her. JJ looked up at Garcia and slowly nodded her head the first signs of tears reaching her eyes.

"I don't know what else we can do Garcia. She could be dead in an hour and all we know is that that son of a bitch has her where he is positive no one will ever find her," JJ cried nearing hysterics. "I don't know about you but I don't want to lose one of my best friends, I don't want to have to walk through the bull pen every morning and see her empty desk, I don't want to…"

"Whoa, hold on there Jayje, don't jump ahead of yourself now. We still have a chance to find her. I have two possible locations for the team to check, Rossi just brought Frank Simmons in and we have the best team in the entire world working on this. We can do it," Garcia replied reassuringly. "Now take a deep breath and try to calm down. Let's go give these addresses to the rest of the team and go save our girl, we can do this." JJ did as she was told and began to take a few deep breaths feeling herself already begin to calm down. She followed Penelope out of her office and headed towards the conference room. _She better be in one of these places, _JJ thought to herself.

Rossi was trying to keep himself from strangling the guy in front of him. He hadn't said a damn word since he was brought in and Rossi was becoming extremely irritated. He began to pound his fists on the table for emphasis as he yelled at Frank to tell him where Prentiss was. Frank just stared at him wide eyed looking as if he was about to piss his pants.

``Where is she Frank? Tell me right now or this isn't going to go down well." Still receiving no response Rossi turned and kicked his chair towards the wall before leaning back across the table, his face mere inches from Franks and saying, "Either you tell me where Agent Prentiss is right now or I will kick your face in next time instead of the chair." Rossi hoped that no one was on the other side of the one way glass because he was well aware that threats were frowned upon but at this particular moment he really didn't care.

Frank gulped as he continued to stare at Rossi, his legs shaking uncontrollably. Marcus had told him not to tell the Feds a damn thing or he would kill him. Frank wanted to live, simple as that. So from the beginning he had done everything Marcus had told him, helped him find victims, help him hide the bodies and now help him lie to the FBI. Frank knew he was in deep shit but right now he only had two options. Tell this agent what he knew and have Marcus kill him or keep his mouth shut and have the agent kill him. Neither option was particularly favourable and so he sat there silently and continued to hope for the best.

Hotch was pacing again. He could feel Reid and Morgan's eyes on him and he knew that he was distracting them but he couldn't help it. They were stuck. Marcus and Frank weren't saying a damn thing and they only had 52 minutes left to find Emily. He rubbed his hand over his face, a gesture he had repeated many times today as an attempt to clear his mind. He stopped dead in his tracks when Garcia entered the room, JJ right on her heels and an excited look on her face.

"Did you find something?" Hotch questioned with more excitement then he had ever allowed the team to see.

"Well I have successfully rooted through Marcus's entire history and came up with naughta," Hotch went to interrupt but Garcia held a finger up hushing him.

"Not so fast boss man. After much digging I was finally able to find two abandoned warehouses that Marcus's step father had owned. His and Marcus's mother divorced when Marcus was only 14 and soon after the step father passed away. The warehouses were left to the state but have yet to be bought or demolished. It took forever to find them because all of the marriage and death certificates had been covered up but lucky for you I am a genius and was able to uncover it all," Garcia stated proudly.

"Where are the buildings Garcia?" Hotch questioned becoming slightly impatient with her rambling. Garcia proceeded to hand the blueprints and addresses to Hotch as he looked them over. Reid came up behind Hotch to study the addresses and file them away in his memory. Reid wrinkled his brow. "Both of these places are a good 45 minutes away. We will have to split up if we want to make both places in time."

"What if she isn't there?" Morgan questioned. "We will be out of time by the time we clear both places."

"JJ you go with Morgan to the first warehouse, Rossi you stay here and try to break Frank, Reid you and I will go to the second location." The team nodded in agreement and began to gather their things and rush out the door.

"Hotch," Garcia asked just as he was about to exit the conference room. He turned to her; his eyebrow raised wondering what was important enough to stall their departure.

"What do you want me to do?" Hotch seemed to think about it for a second before whispering, "Pray," as he turned and headed through the door.

Marcus had no idea what the time was as they had decided to remove the clock from the interrogation room. He had scowled when the black agent had came in and ripped it from the wall before turning and exiting without saying so much as a word to Marcus. They were stuck and Marcus knew it. It wasn't as hard to outsmart the feds as everyone seemed to believe. Since he had nothing better to do he had been slowly counting off the minutes in his head and if he was correct there was about 45 minutes left but he couldn't be sure. Perhaps he had lost count or had counted to fast or too slow but he was sure it was somewhere around there. He crossed one leg over the other as he leaned back in his chair. In approximately forty five minutes a federal agent would be added to his victim count. If only they had let him go she might still be alive. Marcus felt a smile creep across his face, he might be stuck in jail but he had a feeling it was going to be totally worth it.

Emily was becoming extremely close to hyperventilating. She had her head tilted towards the ceiling to keep the water from splashing into her mouth. The timer on the wall had counted down to 29 minutes. If her team didn't hurry she would be dead in less than half an hour. She felt tears begin to fill her eyes, panicking as she wiped them away. The last thing she needed was to add any more liquid to the water surrounding her. She knew that sounded completely irrational, as if her tears would actually have enough volume to make a difference, yet she still felt the need to wipe them away before they dripped of her cheeks. She felt utterly alone and completely pathetic. Emily Prentiss didn't get kidnapped and sentenced to death, she didn't run out of ways to try and save herself and she certainly didn't cry and yet in the span of three hours she had managed to do all three. She felt the water slowly rise again now causing her to stand on her tippy-toes in order to keep her mouth above the water. She looked at the timer again, 27 minutes. _Come on guys, _she muttered to herself but she had a feeling that they were going to be too late.

**A/N: Longest chapter yet I believe! I know it took me forever to update but I have just had so much going on. There will probably only be two more chapters left of this story. Hopefully everyone is still enjoying it and I will try and update it as soon as I can. Please review and let me know what you think, it always helps with the writing process!**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds**_

Chapter 6

JJ closes her eyes as the wind from the open window whips across her face. She is trying to calm herself, prepare herself for what they might find. She ignores the speedometer as it continues to climb knowing full well that it is several miles above the speed limit, but she doesn't care. Emily Prentiss could be dead in 14 minutes and that takes priority above everything else. She wonders what is going through everyone's head right now. Are they thinking about what the bureau would be like without Emily? Are they wondering if they are going to make it on time? Or are they thinking about nothing Emily related at all? She opens her eyes and glances at Morgan. His face is stoic, void of all emotion but she notices his hands clenched around the wheel, his knuckles turning white; he is angry. She turns to look out the window and begins to wonder what Emily is thinking right now, wonders if Emily knows how close she is to dying.

Morgan glances at the clock. _Shit!_ He thinks to himself, only fourteen minutes to go. He pushes his foot down on the accelerator just a little more as they come closer and closer to the warehouse. He is trying to stay brave, knows he has to be strong for JJ. It's hard though, to keep a straight face, to hide his anger and panic. He grips the wheel a little harder, trying to relieve some of that anger but it doesn't really help. He looks at JJ, her eyes are closed. He wonders briefly if she is trying to hide her emotions as well, trying to be strong for him. His palms are becoming sweaty but he continues to hold the steering wheel just a little tighter, afraid to let go.

Reid was never one for fast moving vehicles. He squeals as the SUV takes yet another sharp turn, nearly smacking his head against the window. He is beginning to wonder if he should have offered to drive but he knew Hotch would have none of it. He grips the door handle as Hotch passes a large truck, obviously traveling to slow for Hotch's taste. Reid glances at the clock, fourteen minutes to go. Reid runs through the facts of drowning to keep his mind off Hotch's manic driving. Two to three minutes after Emily is submerged she will lose consciousness. Somewhere between five and ten minutes her brain will begin to lose function and slowly she will die. A maximum of 13 minutes is all she has after she is completely submerged. Reid shakes his head trying to erase the thought, to void his mind of anything concerning Emily Prentiss at the moment but he can't. She is right at the forefront of his mind and he knows she will be until they find her.

Hotch knew he shouldn't be driving and yet there was no way in hell he was letting anyone else do it. He had to get there on time, he had to save her and he only had fourteen minutes to go. He listens to Reid yelp every time he takes a corner just a little too fast and then watches as he nearly bashes his head into a window. He knows he should slow down to avoid giving Reid a concussion but right now he doesn't care. Prentiss is the one and only thing on his mind. In fact she had been on his mind a lot lately and today had only made it worse. He shakes his head; he needs to concentrate on his driving, not her, not at this moment. He takes another sharp turn and watches as Reid actually bashes his head off the window this time. _Sorry Reid, _he thinks apologetically but it doesn't stop him from taking the next corner just as hard.

Garcia is taping her pencil to the beat of the ticking clock. She hasn't taken her eyes off of it since the team has left, fourteen minutes to go. She can feel her whole body shaking as she waits to hear from the team. She prays that one of them will call soon, tell her they have Prentiss and that everything is all right. Right now all Garcia wants to do is cry but she knows she can't, can't lose hope yet. She is praying, just like she told Hotch she would. She is praying that her team doesn't kill themselves on the way to the warehouse due to careless driving, she is praying that they find Prentiss before she has to feel the effects of drowning and most of all she is praying they bring her Princess home alive. She tries to think of happy things in order to calm herself but she suddenly feels guilty. How could she possibly allow herself to think about happy things when she is one hundred percent sure that Emily is going through the scariest and possibly last moments of her life.

Rossi can only think of one word to describe himself right now, angry. He is absolutely furious. Frank refused to say a word and so now he found himself staring Marcus in the eye and what is that smug bastard doing? Smiling. He is actually fucking smiling. Rossi wishes he knew how much time was left, but he won't give Marcus the satisfaction of leaving the room to check. So instead he stares at Marcus, trying to break him but he knows it's of no use. Marcus is enjoying this, enjoying watching them squirm. Rossi wants so badly to punch that asshole in the face, and if the team doesn't find Prentiss on time he knows he will, screw the consequences. Nothing would calm Rossi better right now then breaking this bastards jaw.

Frank is sweating. He knows that it is only a short time before he gets charged with conspiracy to murder not only for the many women he helped Marcus with but for the Federal agent he is sure is about to die. Frank bangs his head off the table repeatedly. Stupid, stupid, stupid! How had he gotten himself into this mess? He swears if he ever gets out of jail he will kill Marcus for putting him through all of this. Maybe he should have talked, told the Fed where she was but it was too late now. Now all he could do was sit there and pray that they found her on time.

Marcus is smiling if for no other reason than he knows he is seriously pissing this agent off. Oh how he wishes he had a clock. He lost count sometime ago but he knows it is getting very close. He wonders if they have any idea of her location or if they are still sitting together somewhere trying to figure it out. He hopes it's the latter.

Emily is struggling to stay above the water now. She is kicking her feet to hold herself up but is very quickly tiring herself out. She can't quit though. She has to give them time, she still has fourteen minutes. She lets her feet rest and slowly sinks the few feet to the bottom of the box. After resting her legs she kicks her way back to the top. She coughs as water gets into her mouth and she starts to panic. She isn't sure how much longer she can hold on, she just hopes it's long enough.

**A/N: Finally a faster update! This chapter was written in a different style but I felt like it worked with the chapter so I kept it that way. I believe there is only one chapter to go! I'm not sure what the outcome of this story is going to be yet so if you have an opinion let me know. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or story alerted. It always makes my day when I check my email and there are review alerts there! So please review and let me know what you think, I will try and get the final chapter up as soon as possible. **


	7. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds**_

Chapter 7

Emily's eyes widened as she watched the timer zero out, the blinking red light seemingly taunting her. She wished she could walk over there and smash the clock, scream that she had won but she knew that would never be reality. She took one last breath as the water reached the top of the box, cutting off her air supply completely. Emily thought about kicking and banging against the glass but knew that it would do nothing but waste what little energy she had left. She grasped at her throat with her hands, a sudden reflex to the loss of air that her body was experiencing. Emily's eyes began to close as she felt herself becoming lightheaded and for the first time in hours she waited patiently. She waited for her life to flash before her eyes, for her to see the light or something, but she didn't. Instead she felt herself sinking into some sort of oblivion and wondered if she would stay there forever.

Marcus tapped his foot as an attempt to count the seconds accurately as they passed by, one by one. He sat patiently as the fed in front of him paced back and forth growing angrier by the second. Rossi's hands were balled into fists, his knuckles turning white from the tension. Marcus was enjoying this, enjoying watching the team fall apart as they failed. Marcus's mind began to wander to the warehouse and the small glass box that sat in its centre. His lips curled up at the thought of the dark haired agent drowning before any of her precious little friends could save her. His foot began to tap faster in anticipation as he was drawn out of his thoughts by a loud slam. The fed no longer occupied the room, Marcus was left alone. His smile grew even bigger, it must be time.

JJ and Morgan jumped from the SUV already buckling their vests into place. JJ attempted to fasten her hair in a ponytail while running at a steady pace behind Morgan. Morgan's gun was already drawn and he was fast approaching the warehouse door. JJ came to an abrupt halt when Morgan stopped suddenly in front of her, almost causing her to run into the back of him.

"What?" JJ questioned obviously in a hurry to find her friend.

"You should circle around back. The blueprints showed another door and that way we can cover more of the warehouse in less time."  
"Morgan, that's against protocol. We are supposed to stick together," JJ reminded him remembering the case where Reid was kidnapped all too well.

"If our assumptions are correct then there is no one else in this building. We'll be fine, let's go." JJ hesitated for another moment but realized arguing with Morgan wasn't helping Emily. With one last glance in Morgan's direction, JJ made her way towards the back of the warehouse.

Reid rubbed the side of his head as the vehicle finally came to a stop. Hotch was out the door and running towards the warehouse before Reid even had a chance to find his door handle. He slung his vest on as he ran, breathing heavily as he attempted to catch up to Hotch. Hotch stopped at the door and turned to face Reid, "Reid you go around and cover the back, clear the rooms and we will meet in the middle." Reid raised his eyebrows questioningly. "We have to cover as much ground as possible, as fast as possible."

"Bu..but… Hotch," Reid stammered. "That's against protocol and we have had enough cases in the past that prove this isn't a good idea."

"Hear that?" Hotch questioned. Reid turned his head to the side to show he was listening and heard the faint sound of sirens in the distance.

"Sirens?" Reid wondered aloud.

"Back up," Hotch clarified. "No go, we don't have very much time."

Garcia sat prepared, her hands hovering over the keyboard should one of the team call her in need of help. She hated this part; the waiting. She wished she could be out there doing something but her place was here, safe in her little cave. She jumped when the door banged open behind her but she didn't turn her concentration away from her computer screens, she already knew who it was.

"Any news?" Rossi asked. Garcia just shook her head, not trusting her voice to speak. Time was up and she had yet to hear the outcome, inside she was a wreck. Rossi pulled a chair up next to her and together they sat, silently anticipating what was to come.

JJ breathed in a sigh of relief when she discovered the back door of the warehouse was unlocked. She had been silently wondering how in the hell she would be able to kick open the dam thing herself. She opened it with a quick push and entered the warehouse gun raised. The room was completely dark minus the small ray of light her flashlight provided. Dust swirled up from the surfaces filling her lungs. She tried to stay silent, tried not to cough but the dust was so thick she couldn't hold it in. Her voice echoed throughout the empty room filling the eerie silence that surrounded her. She continued to search, kicking boxes and wood out of her way as she went. It was strikingly obvious to JJ that no one had used this entrance in a long time. She hoped Morgan was having better luck.

Morgan shot the deadbolt causing the door to open easily. Morgan frowned; he had been looking forward to kicking it open. He stepped through the warehouse door and began to sweep through the rooms one by one. Only did he stop when he heard an ear piercing scream coming from somewhere in the warehouse.

Reid looked around nervously as he approached the back door hoping to see no other signs of human life. He reached to push the door open and frowned when it wouldn't budge. Great, Reid thought. He didn't have time for this, he was in a hurry. He looked around hoping not to alarm anyone of his presence as he shot the chains that held the door shut, breaking them free. Reid crept through the door, the hairs on his neck immediately standing on end. The room was pitch black and he could only imagine what creepy things could be looming just outside the beams of his flashlight. He took in a deep breath as he began his journey through the warehouse.

Hotch gave the door a swift kick, the loud bang resonating throughout the warehouse. _Well if anyone is here I guess they know were coming_, Hotch thought to himself. He began to sweep through rooms that looked like an old cafeteria and then some offices. Just as he was about to enter the main room he heard Reid call out his name in a voice so high pitched, Hotch hardly believed it was coming from a man.

Morgan had his gun lowered as he ran towards the direction of the scream. Finally he came across an open door that appeared to lead to a walk in freezer. He stepped in as JJ quickly turned towards him, gun raised.

"Whoa JJ, it's me. What's the matter? Did you find her?" JJ didn't speak but instead turned her flashlight towards the far wall where at least twenty women hung in a row, frozen solid. "Is she…?" Morgan began but JJ interrupted,

"No, I already checked."

Hotch tripped over machinery and boards as he made his way towards Reid. His flashlight did little to light up the room so Hotch was having trouble seeing where he was going. He watched his feet as he stepped to avoid tripping instead of looking straight ahead. Not paying attention he rammed into the back of Reid nearly knocking them both to the floor. "What is it Reid?" Hotch asked clearly out of breath. Reid pointed a few feet ahead of them to where a dirty light bulb lit up a small portion of the room. Underneath the florescent bulb sat a small glass box filled with water, a dark haired agent encased inside. Not far to its left hung a large timer, the red numbers blinking 00:00:00.

The End

**A/N: Haha just kidding:) This was supposed to be the last chapter but I wasn't quite sure how to end it yet. So the next chapter will be the final one… promise! Thanks for reading and don't forget to let me know what you thought! **


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds**_

Chapter 8

Marcus kicked at the table leg after several minutes had gone by. _Where in the fuck were they?_ The time had obviously come and gone and yet they weren't in here, kneeling at his feet, begging him to tell them where she was. He had watched that annoying Fed pace back and forth in this room for hours, asking him repeatedly where she was but now he was nowhere to be found. Did that mean that they had found her? No it was impossible! Even if they did eventually come across his step father's warehouses there was no way in hell they could do it in three hours. He suddenly wished he wasn't chained to this chair. Wished that he could stand up, throw something, hit something to let out his frustration. Instead he balled his hands into tight fists, his nails digging into his palms until he drew blood. Satisfied some he brought his hands back up to sit on the table and watched as the blood ran slowly down his hand, dripping into a bright pool on the wooden table.

Frank had given up hope. There was no way in hell he was getting away with this. Marcus had tricked him, had said everything would be okay, but he had lied. He was trapped in a little room, the ticking clock his only company as he watched the seconds pass one by one. The three hours had come and gone. He wondered if they had found their agent, saved her on time. He hoped so. If they hadn't he would tell them where to find her. He was done helping Marcus. From now on he was dedicating his life to doing good, if he ever made it out of prison that is.

Hotch ran up to the glass banging on it as he attempted to break it. He threw his shoulder into it repeatedly but it didn't even so much as crack. Reid who was thinking more clearly searched the abandoned room for something more likely to break the glass. Next to an old fire extinguisher he found an axe hanging on the wall in a glass box. He put his elbow through the glass, breaking it easily. Grabbing the axe he ran in the direction of Hotch and Emily, careful not to trip in the process. Hotch's eyes lit up at the site of the axe and he grabbed it from Reid, not really trusting the young agent's aim. Hotch through all his power into the swing, this time breaking the glass easily as water gushed out. He swung again, mindful of Emily as he tried to avoid hitting her with any shards of glass. As soon as enough of the glass was broken, and all the water had drained, he pulled Emily from the small glass box and began to perform CPR.

Garcia squealed with joy as Reid relayed to her and Rossi over the phone that Prentiss had been found. She grabbed Rossi's arm and dragged him out the door. He cursed behind her as he tried to pull his arm from her grasp but there was no stopping Garcia when she was on a mission. She needed to get to the hospital and see her little gumdrop, and she needed to do it now.

JJ stood stock still just staring at the bodies while they waited on the forensics teams. She was completely zoned out although she was aware of a voice somewhere around her. She couldn't even fathom what she was looking at. 28 women! That bastard had gotten away with killing 28 women that the bureau hadn't even been aware of. She had no idea how he had done it, planned out each and every detail and to be honest she didn't really care. They had him now, he couldn't hurt anyone else, and in the long run that was all the mattered.

Morgan paced back and forth as he listened to Reid ramble on the other end of the line. He had called to simply alert them to the fact that they had found 28 more bodies. He had called twenty minutes ago to be exact and since then Reid hadn't stopped talking. Not that Morgan minded initially as it was mostly news about Prentiss. But then Reid started spurting out facts about drowning, about how many killers get away uncaught and pretty much about any other thing he could think of. Morgan knew the kid was just nervous, worried. The paramedics had showed up just before Morgan had called and began to work on making Prentiss breathe. Around two minutes after that, Reid had alerted him that she was indeed breathing and they were loading her into the ambulance. Hotch had left in the ambulance with Prentiss, assigning Reid to wait there for the forensics team and Reid had decided that chatting up Morgan was the best way to pass time.

"Look Reid, as much as I care about how fast the average bird can fly, the forensics team has showed up here so I'm going to get JJ and head to the hospital. I'll see you there okay?"

"Oh ya sure, the forensics team is pulling up here too. Meet you there." Morgan closed his phone and headed over to JJ who had been staring into space the entire time.

"Hey Jayje, you okay?" Morgan asked, his forehead wrinkled in concern.

She nodded. "I will be. It's just how can someone do this? How can someone kill so many people and feel absolutely no remorse?"

"I don't know JJ. But that's why we are here. We stop them so that they can't hurt anymore." JJ nodded again although she wasn't really sure she was satisfied with that answer.

"How's Emily?"

"Reid said the paramedics got her breathing and she is on her way to the hospital. Emily's tough, she'll be fine. We better get to the hospital, our work here is done." Morgan let his arm fall on JJ's shoulder, a comforting reminder that he was there for her, and so was the team.

The following day…

Hotch paced back and forth in front of the interrogation table, much less annoyed then he had been the previous day. Reid sat in the chair across from Marcus, his arms crossed and a small smile playing on his lips. It seemed the rolls had reversed; the tables had turned, because the usually calm and collected Marcus was now sweating. He had failed. According to Agent Hotchner, they had found Emily just in time. She was in the hospital and well on her way to recovery, likely to be discharged as early as this afternoon.

"You know Marcus, you almost had us. But you should have known better. You can't beat us. We won. We found her and in a few weeks she will resume her role on the team. And where will you be? Not wandering free like you had hoped. No, you will be locked up forever. Prison isn't a fun place to be. And as much as I would love to kill you for what you did, I feel like prison is a much better punishment. All those other inmates will do to you what you did to those women. I hope you're happy Marcus. If only you'd shown a little cooperation maybe it wouldn't have ended like this." With that Hotch left the room. He had said his part. Now he needed to get back to the hospital, needed to see Emily. Something had shifted between them and it was about time he did something about it.

Reid and Marcus sat alone now, an eerie sense of calm falling over the room. "I told you we would find her Marcus. Perhaps I'm not quite as naïve as you thought." Marcus scowled at Reid. This wasn't how this was supposed to end. Reid nearly laughed at Marcus's bitterness. He stood and made his way towards the door. About to open it he turned back to Marcus, "You want to know something?" He didn't wait for Marcus to answer. "Statistically you had better odds; the chances of us finding her in three hours were slim. But somehow good triumphed evil, we won, we beat the odds." With that Reid left the room, happy to have put away yet another unsub.

_Finis_

**A/N: So I know it has taken me forever to get the final chapter up but I have been super busy with exams and then the holidays. But finally I have managed to finish up Submerged! Thank you to everyone who read, everyone who story alerted or added it to your favourites. And especially thank you to everyone who reviewed because reviews always make my day. If you have time please leave a review on your way out!**


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